Published: November 3, 2005

The Congo Army, backed by United Nations peacekeepers, killed 32 Mai Mai militiamen during a two-day operation to free four kidnapped local election officials, the United Nations said. Two government soldiers died but no peacekeepers were wounded during the operation on Monday and Tuesday against gunmen in North Kivu Province. A United Nations military spokesman, Thierry Provendier, said about 60 peacekeepers had supported the army. The election officials were kidnapped a week and a half ago near Virundo, about 16 miles west of the town of Butembo, near Congo's border with Uganda.